A Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS) is a broadband, packet based system for the transmission of text, digitized voice, video and multi-media. In a UMTS based network (or UTRAN, where UTRA stands for UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) part of the protocol stack is responsible for the assignment, configuration and release of radio resources between the UE and the UTRAN. Two basic modes that the UE can operate are defined as “idle mode” and “UTRA RRC connected mode” (or simply “connected mode”). In idle mode, the UE is required to request a RRC connection from the UTRAN whenever it wants to send any user data or respond to a page for receiving data from an external data network such as a push server. When in a RRC connected mode, the UE can be in one of four states:
CELL-DCH: a dedicated channel is allocated to the UE in uplink and downlink in this state to exchange data;
CELL_FACH: no dedicated channel is allocated to the UE in this state; instead, common channels are used to exchange a small amount of bursty data;
CELL_PCH: the UE uses Discontinuous Reception (DRX) to monitor broadcast messages and pages via a Paging Indicator Channel (PICH) and no uplink activity is possible; and
URA_PCH: this state is similar to CELL_PCH, except that URA UPDATE procedure is only triggered via UTRAN Registration Area (URA) reselection.
In IDLE state, when the UE requests an RRC connection, the network (NW) decides whether to move the UE to the CELL_DCH or CELL_FACH state. Conversely, when the UE is in an RRC connected mode, it is the network that decides when to release the RRC connection. The network may also move the UE from one RRC state to another prior to releasing the connection or in some cases instead of releasing the connection. The state transitions are typically triggered by data activity or inactivity between the UE and network. Since the network may not know when the UE has completed the data exchange for a given application, it typically keeps the RRC connection for some time in anticipation of more data to/from the UE. This is typically done to reduce the latency of call set-up and subsequent radio resource setup. The RRC connection release message can only be sent by the UTRAN that releases the signal link connection and all radio resources between the UE and the UTRAN.
The problem with the above arrangement is that even if an application on the UE has completed its data transaction and is not expecting any further data exchange, the UE must still wait for the network to move it to the correct state. The network may not be even aware of the fact that the application on the UE has completed its data exchange. Since the UTRAN controls when the RRC connected state is changed to a different state or into an idle mode and the UTRAN is not aware of the status of data 502 delivery between the UE and external server. Accordingly, the UE may be forced to stay in a higher data rate state or mode than what is required, resulting in decreased battery life for the UE and as well as the possibility of wasting network resources due to the fact that the radio resources are unnecessarily being kept occupied and are thus not available for another user.
Therefore, a method, apparatus, and system for improving power consumption in a wireless mobile communication device when wirelessly connected to a wireless network.